RJA #9: Evaluation of Sources

Books

Kly, Y.N. THE INVISIBLE WAR: The African American Anti-Slavery Resistance from the Stono Rebellion through the Seminole Wars. Clarity Press, Inc. 2008

This book is the result of Dr. Kly's ongoing research into historical representations of African Americans. In it he provides recorded documentation, such as military correspondence and records of historical events which defy the view that African chattel slaves as a group displayed minimal resistance to their forced immigration and captivity.

Wiggins, Kenneth. The Black Seminoles : History of a Freedom-seeking people. Gainesville : University Press of Florida. 1996.


This book chronicles John Horse, of mixed African and Indigenous American heritage and his military prowess that aided in securing freedom for the Black Seminoles. Wiggins status as a respected historian, educator and published author lends credibility to this source.

Periodical Articles

Weik,Terrance M. The Role of Ethnogenesis and Organization in the Development of African-Native American Settlements: an African Seminole Model. International Journal of Historical Archeology, Volume 13, Number 2/ June, 2009, Pages 206-238.


This article is an archeological study which examines the community structure and everyday life of Pilaklikaha, a nineteenth century Seminole community which existed in present day Florida. Its credibility can be attributed to its appearance in a professional academic archeological publication.

Klos, George. Blacks and the Seminole Removal Debate, 1821-1835. The Florida Historical Quarterly, Volume 68, Number 1 /July, 1989, Pages 55-78.
Published by: Florida Historical Society. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30148038

This article examines pre-Civil War, Spanish Florida's African-Native American relationships.

Online Sources

The International Human Rights Association of American Minorities

http://ihraam.org/files/klycvGullah.html

This page provides an online veiw of Dr. Yusef N. Kly's credential's, awards and affiliations. It is useful to my research in that it substantiates Dr. Kly's credibility, highlights his ongoing work on my chosen topic, while it also reveals his broader interest in international law. Dr. Kly's book, "The Invisible War" is one of the foundational texts for my research project.

Metacca

Internet Research Project


Name of and link to the tool: Metacca

Summary or description of the tool:

Metacca is a Meta search tool. A Meta search engine acts a sort of online dispatcher that send out a virtual all points bulletin for your query. This inquiry reaches over 100 popular and invisible or deep web sources, and is indexed into categories such as, Web, Images, News, Shopping, Videos and FTP. It reduces redundancy by removing duplicate links. It only shows the top ten results from each source queried. If a site does not respond in the allotted time, it is eliminated. According to Metacca’s about page, their “wide selection of both semantic and non-semantic search engines ensures that the final result presented is more relevant and ordered.”

Strengths: Metacca’s simultaneous search is a time saver. One is relieved of the task of querying numerous sites manually, one at a time.

Weaknesses:

Search engines, directories, and other applications searched:
A9
Altavista Atw Dmoz
Yahoo Live About
Aol Entireweb Gigablast
Walhello Wisenut Alexa
Mojeek Visvo Wikia
Hakia Googleads Googlenew
Rpilotppc Bing


Databases: 100 +
Operators:
Case sensitivity: no
Stop words:
Advanced search function: yes
Limits
Sorting: relavance
Display: Simple HTML
Help function: no
Special features: category by source or media type

My search for “gullah wars” produced 109 results, of which about 50% were relevant.

RJA #8c: Multimedia

Resource searched or tool used: FlickrStorm
Keywords used: Gullah, Black Seminole
Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches)
Date of search 12 October 2009
Number of hits: o
Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5) 0

Resource searched or tool used: Docu-view
Keywords used: Gullah wars, Black Seminole
Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches)
Date of search 12 October 2009
Number of hits: o
Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5) 0

RJA #8b: Social Media

Resource searched or tool used: Kosmix.com
Keywords used: Gullah, Black Seminole
Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches)
Date of search 12 October 2009
Number of hits: Four videos
Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5) 4



Resource searched or tool used: googleblogs.com
Keywords used: black seminoles, gullah wars
Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches)
Date of search 12 October 2009
Number of hits :30
Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5) 4-5

RJA #8a: Websites

Resource searched or tool used: Exact Seek.com
Keywords used: Black Seminole
Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches): Black+Seminole
Date of search: 12 October 2009
Number of hits: 500
Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5) : 2-3

Resource searched or tool used: AcademicIndex.net
Keywords used: Gullah Wars
Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches): Gullah+wars
Date of search: 12 October 2009
Number of hits: 60
Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5): 2-3

Resource searched or tool used: AcademicInfo.net
Keywords used: Gullah wars, Seminole wars
Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches): Gullah+wars; Seminole+Wars
Date of search 12 October 2009
Number of hits Gullah wars- 0; Seminole Wars - 3
Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5): 2

Resource searched or tool used:deepdyve.com
Keywords used: Gullah
Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches) Gullah+Black+Seminole+wars
Date of search 12 October 2009
Number of hits :87, 589
Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5): 5

RJA #7c: Field Research Plan

It would be a dream to interview world renown international human rights expert, Dr. Yussef Naim Kly; I will be utilizing his book, The Invisible War, in my research. I am hoping to secure either an online or phone interview with Robert Strongrivers, a descendant of Black Indians, residing in Virginia. He is a lecturer on African-Indigenous history and is passionate about African Americans enlightenment regarding the subject.

I would also like to pose the following questions to at least two African American Studies professors here at Metro:

What do you know of Black indigenous peoples?
What do you know of Black resistance during American slavery?
Why do think that information regarding resistance remains hidden in the American historical lexicon?
Who would benefit from the suppression of this part of history?
Are the Black Seminoles and other such so-called insurgents apart of your teaching curriculum?
What is the importance of their story?

Links

Dr. Kly's credentials http://ihraam.org/files/klycvGullah.html

Robert Strongrivers http://pointingbird.tripod.com/lostfeatherintl/index.htm

RJA #7b: Internet Research Tool Test

Resource searched: Metacca

Keywords used: Black+Seminole

Search strategies used (including operators and types of searches):
Black+Seminole or gullah+wars

Date of search: 3 October 2009

Number of hits: 103 and 106, respectively

Relevance of hits (on a scale of 1 to 5) : 5!
I may have discovered a viable source for an interview!!!

RJA #7a: Internet Research Tools

In general, when beginning a research project, I always begin with the library. I will peruse the online catalog of the three A’s: Auraria and Aurora libraries and the Arapahoe Library District. My first inclination in doing research is to look to books. However, access to the libraries’ online resources has broadened and enriched my research, providing avenues to sources I never would have dreamed of merely relying on books. Access to various databases, academic journals, dissertations, etc, through Auraria’s online catalogs has proven invaluable to my research. I’ve used Grove, Ebsco, JStor and Lexus Nexus. Queries utilizing a keyword have generated a wide range of material including journal and newspaper articles, websites, university links, etc. Most often I will query JStor or Ebsco for articles. I’ve recently added Google Scholar to my go-to list. For my music research, Grove’s online music encyclopedia is always a reliable starting point. For demonstrations of songs, nothing beats Youtube. Ebsco and Lexus Nexus are great but one must be detailed and have a narrowed focus (dates, specific topic) when dealing with both as, they will generate thousands of articles. JStor is my favorite for articles; I can usually find good articles, reviews or have discovered authors/ specialists in my area of inquiry just by querying there.

LINKS

Grove, Ebsco, JStor and Lexus Nexus all require membership for access and are only available to me via the Auraria Libraray page:

http://library.auraria.edu/tools/databases/index.php

Google Scholar: http://www.googlescholar.com/

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/